The Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer (SITC) celebrated their 40th anniversary at their annual meeting in National Harbor, Maryland from November 5-9, 2025. The meeting focused on multidisciplinary research aiming to leverage the immune system to improve outcomes for cancer patients, including several exciting areas of growth in lung cancer-directed immunotherapy.
Tumor Imaging is Growing More Powerful
Advanced imaging techniques are poised to change how we understand and treat lung cancer without the need for invasive procedures. Researchers are working to use QVT radiomic scores (measuring the complexity of the blood vessel structures within the tumor) to predict the effectiveness of treating non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) with immune checkpoint inhibitors.
Immunotherapy Options are Improving with Next-Generation Bispecific Antibodies
Researchers shared updated data on PD-1/VEGF bispecific antibodies that demonstrated promising results in treating NSCLC, highlighting the importance of targeting two key pathways simultaneously.
Expanding Immunotherapy to Aid in Cancer Interception
Data suggests that it may be possible to identify precancerous lung tissue and adjust components of the immune system at the precancerous site to delay or prevent lung cancer.
Roadmap to the Future of Immunotherapy
Always looking for ways to make the future brighter for patients with cancer, researchers at the SITC meeting shared their vision for how to build the next generation of immunotherapy breakthroughs while overcoming critical challenges along the way. Read their immunotherapy roadmap.
mRNA Vaccines to Make “Cold” Tumors Responsive to Treatment
Adam Grippin, MD, PhD, a senior resident in Radiation Oncology at MD Anderson Cancer Center and the recipient of the 2025 ASTRO-LUNGevity Fellows in Radiation Oncology Seed Grant, discovered that mRNA vaccines, such as the COVID mRNA vaccine, can activate immune cells to target tumors that were previously resistant to immunotherapy.
These findings were recently published in Nature with updated data presented at the SITC meeting. The 2025 ASTRO-LUNGevity Seed Grant will allow Dr. Grippin to expand this work to determine the effectiveness of combining radiation with mRNA vaccines to improve lung cancer treatment outcomes.